6 ms·

"Its [salt] main use is deicing our roads ..." I thought this sounded surprising, salt is used for lots of things, and it'd be surprising if road use was the m

"Its [salt] main use is deicing our roads ..." I thought this sounded surprising, salt is used for lots of things, and it'd be surprising if road use was the main one. So I went to look, found a bunch of sources, including [1] and indeed this does not look to be correct. Further down the article acknowledges that indeed only about 40% of salt is used for deicing roads, but it really annoys me when writers knowingly write misleading statements at the top of their piece for "impact". The article also fails to mention that there are a number of alternatives available if it's infeasible to acquire salt in sufficient quantities, such as CMA[2]. Currently CMA is about 13x more expensive, but that would seem to put some sort of constraint on just how much price gouging is possible, especially as CMA and similar alternatives have a lot of significant upsides, such as much less vehicle damage and environmental impact. 1: https://www.grandviewresearch.com/industry-analysis/industrial-salts-market https://www.grandviewresearch.com/industry-analysis/industri... 2: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Calcium_magnesium_acetate https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Calcium_magnesium_acetate

BurningFrog 6y ago
To me "main use" only says it's bigger than any other single use, not that it's > 50%. I agree that just writing "40%" would be more informative, but that's not how journalistic writing works, for reasons I don't fully understand.
- ghaff 6y ago
  I won't argue this specific case but, in general, terms like "most," "about half," a "significant majority," and so forth can be more readable for a general audience than spouting off a bunch of precise numbers (which may not really be that accurate anyway).
- Retric 6y ago
  They actually gave the number lower down. “Roughly 40% of domestic salt, produced largely from mining, is used not for food or chemicals, but for deicing.” So, I don’t know what the issue here as the term main use is as you say accurate.
btown 6y ago
In what possible world is a 13x priced chemical a meaningful rebuttal to the notion that this conglomerate would be free to gouge prices? It’s good to know it exists, but it’s a red herring from an argumentation perspective.
chrisseaton 6y ago
> Further down the article acknowledges that indeed only about 40% of salt is used for deicing roads Isn't that the main use then? The article doesn't say the majority is used for deicing. It says it's the main use. Unless there is another use at 41%, then this is the main use.
CPLX 6y ago
I don’t think you’ve identified any criticisms here that negate the main points he’s making.
bandyaboot 6y ago
As others have already stated, though probably not the most informative, “main” is a reasonable choice in this context. Given that, your choice to label it as knowingly misleading for impact is itself more deserving of criticism than the thing your criticizing.
deleted 6y ago
[deleted]

BurningFrog 6y ago

To me "main use" only says it's bigger than any other single use, not that it's > 50%. I agree that just writing "40%" would be more informative, but that's not how journalistic writing works, for reasons I don't fully understand.

ghaff 6y ago
I won't argue this specific case but, in general, terms like "most," "about half," a "significant majority," and so forth can be more readable for a general audience than spouting off a bunch of precise numbers (which may not really be that accurate anyway).
Retric 6y ago
They actually gave the number lower down. “Roughly 40% of domestic salt, produced largely from mining, is used not for food or chemicals, but for deicing.” So, I don’t know what the issue here as the term main use is as you say accurate.

btown 6y ago

In what possible world is a 13x priced chemical a meaningful rebuttal to the notion that this conglomerate would be free to gouge prices? It’s good to know it exists, but it’s a red herring from an argumentation perspective.

chrisseaton 6y ago

> Further down the article acknowledges that indeed only about 40% of salt is used for deicing roads Isn't that the main use then? The article doesn't say the majority is used for deicing. It says it's the main use. Unless there is another use at 41%, then this is the main use.

CPLX 6y ago

I don’t think you’ve identified any criticisms here that negate the main points he’s making.

bandyaboot 6y ago

As others have already stated, though probably not the most informative, “main” is a reasonable choice in this context. Given that, your choice to label it as knowingly misleading for impact is itself more deserving of criticism than the thing your criticizing.

deleted 6y ago

[deleted]